Government officials were right to deny Sion Jenkins compensation for the six years he spent in jail accused of murdering his foster daughter, her natural family said today.

The former deputy headmaster had sought up to £500,000 damages for the prison term he served before he was acquitted over Billie-Jo’s death.

But although Mr Jenkins said he fitted ‘all the criteria’ for a payout, the Ministry of Justice rejected his request after officials assessed the case.

Rules state that applicants for miscarriage of justice compensation
must show they are ‘clearly innocent’ if they are to receive money.

Rejected: Sion Jenkins with wife Tina, has his compensation bid turned down

The snub is a major setback for Mr Jenkins, who has always protested his innocence.

He was initially found guilty in 1998 of 13-year-old Billie-Jo’s murder.

She had been battered to death with a metal tent peg on the patio of her foster family’s home.

Six years after his conviction, he won an appeal against it and was released on bail pending a new trial.

He was formally acquitted in February 2006 following two retrials when neither jury could reach a verdict.

Murdered: Billie-Jo Jenkins, 13, was beaten to death oustide her foster home

Today, the widow of Billie-Jo's natural father, Bill Jenkins, who by coincidence shared the same surname, criticised the decision by Jenkins to submit a compensation claim in the first place.

Elizabeth Jenkins, 62, from Canning Town, east London, said: 'Myself and the family think he had a cheek to put in for that money.

'I was pleased that he didn't get it because I don't think he should be a free man.

'As far as I'm concerned he should still be inside but he has just denied it all the time.'

Details of his compensation claim were revealed in 2008 after the publication of his book The Murder Of Billie-Jo.

In it, for the first time, he mentioned his own prime suspect – a man he says he saw in the hall of his home in Hastings, East Sussex, on the day of the attack.

Around that time, Mr Jenkins said: ‘I believe the Government should compensate me for taking away my liberty for six years which also meant I lost the childhood of my daughters.

‘Family members have died while I was inside. I had a kicking while I was inside. I have raged inside because I have not been able to cope with what happened to me.

‘I believe the Government should pay for that. I have just filled in the forms. I am waiting for decision. I fulfil all the criteria. The amount is not the important thing.’

Billie-Jo was killed in February 1997. In the days after her death, Mr Jenkins was arrested for her murder.

Murder scene: The house, left, in Hastings, East Sussex, where Billie-Jo lived

He has always maintained that he found her body when he returned from a trip to a DIY store.

After he was convicted, his wife Lois divorced him and moved with their four daughters to Tasmania, severing contact.

Weapon: A metal tent peg like the one that was used to kill Billie-Jo

Days after his acquittal she revealed how he had beaten her and their children.

In
her diary she alleged that her former husband had a history of domestic
violence, violent mood swings and a fascination for corporal
punishment.

She had given similar evidence during his appeal hearing but the allegations were never heard by the jury. In a TV interview after his acquittal, Mr Jenkins denied the domestic violence.

During his first trial, it also emerged that he had faked his CV in order to get his deputy head post in Hastings, East Sussex.

Mr Jenkins has since put this down to ‘stupidity’.

In February 2005, while awaiting the first of his two retrials, he secretly wed second wife Tina Ferneyhough, a 58-year-old millionaire art dealer.

In August 2006, six months after Mr Jenkins was cleared at the Old Bailey, Billie-Jo’s father Bill Jenkins, who, by coincidence shared the same surname, died of cancer at 54.

Following Mr Jenkins’s acquittal, Sussex Police carried out a review of Billie-Jo’s murder but identified no new leads or suspects.

A force spokesman said yesterday: ‘The murder of Billie-Jo Jenkins remains an unresolved case and is therefore subject to review in the event of any new and compelling evidence coming to light.

Troubled relationship: Sion Jenkins with ex-wife Lois at a press conference in 1997. She divorced him after his conviction in 1998 and moved with their four daughters to Tasmania. When he was acquitted she then claimed he was violent

‘We will continue actively to pursue any viable lines of enquiry put to us, but none have emerged.’

At his £600,000 detached house in Southsea, Hampshire, Mr Jenkins, 52, refused to comment on his failed bid for compensation.

‘I don’t like answering questions and I don’t usually answer questions about why I don’t answer questions,’ he said.

On his website, Justice For Sion Jenkins, he writes: ‘I will not rest until Billie’s killer is brought to justice. I need to know who ended her life.

‘So I work, read and investigate to this end. Billie will never be forgotten. I will never give up.’

Victims of miscarriages of justice are not automatically entitled to compensation after their original convictions are quashed.

They must prove they are ‘clearly innocent’ to receive a payout.

Claims for damages are considered under section 133 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988.

The amount paid for ‘suffering and harm to reputation’ is judged by factors including the seriousness of the offence and severity of punishment, the conduct of investigation and prosecution of the offence.

Separated: Lois Jenkins attended Billie-Jo's funeral with three of her daughters - but not Sion, who she believed was guilty early in the investigation

If ministers rule an applicant deserves a payout, an independent assessor, often a senior lawyer is appointed to decide how much.

The Ministry of Justice said: ‘In order for it to be shown that it is beyond reasonable doubt there has been a miscarriage of justice for the purposes of paying compensation, the applicant must be shown to be “clearly innocent”.’

The department refused to discuss the outcome of Mr Jenkins’s damages claim. It is not known whether he is appealing the ruling.

Prior to his compensation claim, Mr Jenkins was buoyed by the £700,000 awarded to Colin Stagg, who spent a year in custody after being wrongly charged with the murder of Rachel Nickell.

Big compensation payouts include those made to the Birmingham Six who were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 for the Birmingham pub bombings.

Their convictions were declared unsafe and overturned by the Court of Appeal in 1991. The six men were later awarded compensation ranging from £840,000 to £1.2million.